Fears of the Fantastic
by masked-outlaw
Summary: They may be Fantastic, but they still have fears. It seems Doom has made a sudden reaperance, but is choosing other people to do his dirty work and not himself. Is Doom really behind all this...CHAPTER 5 UP!
1. Broken Field

Chapter one- Broken Field

"Reed, look at me!" Johnny mocked and fluttered his eyelids in an impersonation of his sister. Johnny Storm saw the glare on anger in his sister's eyes but he just lay on the sofa watching racing on the plasma screen looking cool as ever. A boyish grin came over his face as his eyes met with his sisters. "And you thought I had forgotten about you and Reeds date in Doom's hospital eh?"

Susan's hair waved around her head as though being blown by a non-existence breeze. She raised an arm in the arm and a sphere of rippling blue appeared around her hand.

Johnny gulped; he knew his sister's fields were strong but how strong? Sue looked at her brother with hatred and fired the field at the two wooden doors which split into eight pieces. Glaring at Johnny as she passed, Sue walked down the hallway to the lab.

A gasp of relief came over Johnny as he looked up and jumped. "Jesus wide load, stop sneaking up on me like that!"

A deep, throaty, sarcastic laugh came from Ben Grimm. "I'm really not that hard to miss Tinkerbell." A serious look came across his rocky face. "What did you say to Suzie?"

Taking a sip of his soda, Johnny replied "I didn't say anything. Anyway, what's burst her bubble?"

"like you don't know." Out of the corner of his eye Ben saw a sphere of blue pulsing energy come flying his way although he knew it wasn't meant for him and he swiftly moved out of the way.

"Why did you m-." Before he could finish his sentence he was sent flying backwards into the glass partition that separated the T.V room from the lab. Johnny looked up to see a single hand. Looking at where the hand came from he looked down the room a few meters to see the face of Reed Richards. "Ewwwww!" Johnny exclaimed as he quickly stood up.

"Johnny if only your mind was advanced like the rest of the human race then you would have noticed today's headline." Reed tossed the paper to Johnny who caught it and read the headline out loud.

"Doom takes over Latveria and more powerful then ever! Like dude reporters have only seen him once, and anyway how bad can it be?" Johnny quickly ducked out of the way of another force-field.

A grim look came across Reeds face. "Turn to page 5."

Johnny agreed and turned the pages. "Dr. Doom announced to his country that Susan Storm and the rest of the fantastic four would pay for what they did to him. His armor is more improved….blah, blah, blah!"

Reed slammed a fist of the metal desk. "Don't you see Johnny! She's scared senseless! When she hurled a field at him before it had no effect on him! She feels she can't protect herself! The building is even being guarded!"

Johnny glided to the window and was amazed at what he saw. He saw nothing. That's right, nothing. He was amazed because for once the great Reed Richards was wrong. "Hey stretch, there's no one outside apart from reporters."

Reed was making his way toward the window when a throaty yell could be heard. "SUZIE! I'M COMING! GET OFF ME DOOM REJECTS!"

Reed stopped and looked at the stairs then looked at Johnny. Who nodded at Reed and ran downstairs with him. As they reached the lobby they saw the guards fighting muscular men dressed in green wielding guns that fired lightening. Reed noticed that on the attacker's faces were metal masks, similar to the one worn by Dr. Doom.

Johnny storm looked at his sister with a look of fear on his face. Sue was surrounded by a force-field and defending herself against the bolts of lightening which were fired at her. He had a look of fear because the field was fading. He knew Sue needed to keep her emotions in check to stabilize the fields, and at the moment she was a quivering wreck. Johnny ripped off his clothes revealing his blue costume. "FLAME ON!" he roared as his whole body was engulfed by fire.

Reed saw Johnny go to help his fiancé and decided to ward off the attackers along with Ben who was pounding away at what he called the 'Doom Rejects'. Reed stretched two arms, wrapping them around two of the men and smacked them together. He continued doing this, making a path towards where Johnny and Susan were. Ben followed suit, creating his own path which wasn't very hard.

Ben quickly caught Sue as she fell. Her field was gone and she was shaking. "Suzie don't worry. I'm sure this is one big mistake or something." Ben beckoned to Reed with one of his four thick fingers. "Take her upstairs. Me and Flame boy will take care of these rejects."

Reed nodded and extended an arm to the ceiling. He pulled himself up and Sue lay shaking in an hammock like structure Reed had made with his legs. He swung across the room and ran up the stairs and placed Sue on the sofa.

"Inferno storm!" Johnny cried and circled the attackers trapping them in a dome of flame. One of the attackers walked through the fire and clutched his chest in pain.

"We shall leave now. We were sent to deliver this to Mr. Fantastic. But seeing as he's not around. I'll give it to you." He raised a control in the air and the thirty other identical looking men did the same. They pressed a green button and disappeared.

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Neat trick." He groaned. "Tink, give Reed the hologram disk now!" Ben watched as Johnny flew up the stairs and Ben followed. He entered the lab to see Reed hugging Sue and Johny pressing the switch. A shadowed image of Doom appeared.

The sound that came from it was a metallic voice. "I hope you liked my new followers. I call them the doom control. You think you got rid of me! Ha! I'm going to get rid of you and succeed. Flame boy, Crusty, Rubber neck, I'll get you later. But Susan, I'm coming for you. I'll get you. For even in that building you're not safe."

The hologram faded and Reed hugged Sue tighter who had turned white.


	2. Cheers Of The Crowd

Chapter 2- Put out flames

When Sue woke up she wrapped her blue silk dressing gown around herself and walked to the lab, where Reed, Ben and Johnny sat. She touched her head and yawned. "What time is it?" she groaned.

"Time for you to get changed into your super suit sis!" A grin came over his face. "I'm joking, but anyway we know what Doom said to the papers was a lie."

Sue flinched at the sound of Dooms name and looked at the pile of clothes Reed had put in front of her. Sue was too tired to walk to her room, so turning invisible she put the clothes on. When she was visible again she took Johnny's coffee and drank it all.

Reed looked empathetically. "Anyway, as Johnny was saying. We know it was a lie. If it hadn't had been for you Doom wouldn't have been defeated. He knows you were the key to his downfall so…."

Sue smacked her lips and smiled. "…He thought if he scared me, my powers wouldn't work, resulting in me not being able to contain super nova…"

Johnny punched the air. "…meaning that world would burns and you wouldn't be able to live with yourself."

Ben Grimm put down the mixing bowl which he was drinking from. "You were reading Reeds notes, right?"

Grinning mischievously Johnny replied "Of course."

Reed was about to tell Johnny that he couldn't read his notes all his life to be smart but his eyes were adverted to the T.V. "What in the world…Look at the news."

Four pairs of eyes looked at the screen where news reporter Nancy Callahagn was talking about the events that happened earlier that morning. "These scenes are quite shocking. It seems that fantastic four member Johnny Storm, otherwise known as The Human Torch helped in the robbery of New Yorks biggest bank. Could this be the answer to why his flames are now black along with his grey costume? Let's ask…." Before the T.V reporter told them what happened, the T.V burst into flame. Everyone looked at Johnny.

"We're going down town. I'm gonna kick his butt!" Johnny ran to the lab and brought back four blue costumes. Sue and Reed went to get changed whilst Ben got changed in the kitchen. Johnny who had put his on in a second was waiting at the window in the lab.

When the others arrived Johnny beckoned them to the window. His body engulfed in flame and he flew down to the ground where he hovered. Reed stretched his arms and legs so he got to the ground safely, Ben jumped, creating a large hole in the ground. Sue looked at the air in front of her and a blue disk of energy appeared. She stepped on it and hovered at the ground along with Johnny.

Reporters were clustered around the four bombarding them with questions asking them if they had been cloned. Reed took a look at one reporters portable television and saw Sue, Johnny, Ben and himself fighting the police. "Let's go!" He murmured and the four headed to the bank.

When the four got there they came face to face with what seemed to be their counterparts. Each member of the two teams stood near each other looking at one another. Sue looked at a woman who looked like her. But this woman had a dark grey suit and dirty blonde hair flicked out to the sides. The woman's face had make-up heavily applied. "Who the heck are you?" Sue exclaimed.

Reed's counter part looked at Sue. "_WE _are your dark sides. And we have been hired to destroy you." This Reed also wore a grey suit like Sues dark side as well as Johnnys and Ben's. "And now I think it's time we fought. The Human Torch against The Black Torch. The Thing against The Rock. The Invisible Woman against The Invisible Lady, and Mr. Fantastic against me…" A sly grin came over the imposter's face. "…Mr. Fearsome. Together we are the Fearsome Four!"

Sue was about to open her mouth when the Invisible Lady fired a grey force field at her sending Sue flying into a parked van. "You're going down." Turning invisible Sue fired force fields at her opponent. Who in turn turned invisible and fired force fields in the direction Sue's were coming from.

Johnny was having his own problems. Whoever said fight fire with fire was lying. At one end was Johnny engulfed in red flame and at the other was The Black Torch engulfed in black flame. Both flamers were firing flames at one another. Thinking he had the advantage, Johnny flew into the air unaware that his opponent could as well. "Lets take you down!" Johnny boomed and touched Black Torch's shoulders and absorbed the black flames. Without his flames the Black Torch could not fly and fell to the floor. Johnny saw his opponent to try and make fire but did not succeed.

"In the name of Einstein!" Reed Richards exclaimed as his opponent curled into a ball like himself. They both hurled their ball-like bodies at each other repeatedly but Reed got the upper hand, extending a hand and breaking his opponents nose sending him dropping to the ground next to the Black Torch.

The Rock looked the same as The Thing apart from the fact he was a grayish color and had a head full of spikes. Ben was sent crashing into the glass wall of the bank. But Ben fought back and Kicked Rocky into the pile where the Black Torch and Mr. Fearsome lye. All three stood up as the Invisible Lady appeared in front of her teammates. "Suzie Storm, You'll fall like your family members who are all stupid and…"

Before she could finish the Invisible Lady and her team were sent THROUGH a wall by a deep blue force field. Sue appeared gasping for air whilst her team looked in awe. That was the strongest field Sue had ever created! "You can insult me all you like, But you can NEVER insult my family!"

Johnny began following Reed who was walking over to where the Fearsome Four were lying. "Go Sue! You were awesome! You're on fire!"

Reed put a stretched finger to Johnny's lips. "Stop talking. Supernova." As he finished his sentence Reed wound himself around the four villains.

"FLAME ON!" Johnny shouted as he flew into the air. Ben hauled Reed away and their opponents looked horrified as they were encircled in fire.

Sue raised to hands and blue energy erupted from her hands and spread over the flames containing it. She felt blood trickle down her nose as she kept the fearsome fire at bay. When the fire died down she lowered the field to see four smoking figures.

Ben walked over the the figures and what he saw horrified him. Their faces were mutated and had metal showing through the felsh. Picking one up, he peeled the skin of the face off and found a skull made entirely of metal. The truth dawned on him. They had been fighting robots.

Johnny raised his hands in triumph and smiled expecting the crowd to admire him, but they didn't. All he could hear was a chant. The crowd were saying 'Johnny Storm put his flame out!' repeatedly. Johnny was horrified and without waiting for his teammates erupted into flame and flew to the Baxter building.

Sue followed Reed and Ben as they chased Johnny but something caught her eye. On the floor was a floppy disc. Pocketing it, Sue ran to the building and didn't notice someone throw what looked like a coin in her hair.


	3. Illusions of Doom

Chapter 3- Illusions of Doom

"Johnny you've got to have some breakfast and eat, come on." Sue looked down at her brother who was hiding under the covers of his bed like a child. Although Sue felt sympathetic, she also felt a bit annoyed with him. Even if someone puts you down you should still help people. And for Johnny. That meant going out in public, flaming then saving the day.

"Sue, I've heard it all before. Remember when I was 9? You did what you were doing now and when I wouldn't have any breakfast you used reverse thingy?" A head came from under covers and Johnny looked at his sister with painful eyes. "I thought they loved me Sue! Now that they don't even _like me_!" Johnny's hand flamed and he threw a fireball at his sister.

Sue raised a force field and the fire ball extinguished. "Well when you come out, I'll be here." Sue looked at her brother and felt his pain. Adoration was a thing Johnny loved and now he didn't have it, even if a fraction of the city doesn't like him, to him the world doesn't like him. Sue wore a sad face as she closed the door to her brother's room.

Inside the room, Johnny had sat up. 'Maybe watching T.V will help solve my problems.' As he pushed the button. To his horror the crowds taunt from yesterday was being played. Johnny flipped over to another channel and the same image was playing. Johnny kept changing the channels over and over but the same image was playing. Johnny threw the remote at the T.V making the screen smash. He threw himself under the covers and cried.

Sue looked at Reed holding the disk she had found on the ground after their battle with the Fearsome Four. "Reed…. You said you were going to look at this disk yesterday, but you haven't. Now _we're _going to look at it…. Together." Sue walked over to Reed's computer where he had analyzed the chips sent to them by the police of the Fearsome Four. Sue looked at the code and at Reed who had a 'I can't figure out the code' look on his face.

Reed looked up at Sue and his expression changed as he saw the disk. A smile came over his face. "Maybe that discs unlocks the code, I've had to use discs plenty of times before to unscramble codes." Reed snatched the disk away from Sue and put it in the disc slot. Flashing numbers and letters appeared on the screen then the screen went black.

Ben Grimm had just finished his fourth pile of pancakes when he walked into the lab. His eyes were immediately drawn to the computer screen where there were blueprints for the foes he had fought the day before. "Whoa Reed where did you find this?"

"The computer chip from the robot we fought yesterday had a code, I used the disc Sue found to unscramble it. There are blueprints for the robots we fought yesterday and I must say, these robots are pretty advanced. Only one man would have the money to afford these robots…."

"Doom." Ben grunted as he sipped his coffee which was in a specially made mug that was the size of a paper bin.

Sue looked more closely at the screen. "Reed, click where it says 'project inflamarae'." Sue pointed to where the name she had found was and Reed clicked on it. Sue found herself looking at a plan to give one person the illusion of negativity. She looked as someone had written about the plan. Making the four fight the robots and was shocked to discover that the spectators were actually the doom patrol. Sue looked at Reed and Ben "What did they use? Holograms?" She asked.

"I don't know Sue, but here it says magic." Reed raised an eyebrow. He was a scientist who didn't believe in magic.

"It was called project Inflamarae right?" Three heads turned to see Johnny Storm who was dressed in his usually jeans, t-shirt and jacket.

Running up to her brother and hugging him Sue said "Johnny, you're not sulking anymore. What did you do? Watch T.V?"

Johnny had to push his sister away. "I _tried _watching T.V but it didn't work. Then I went out onto my balcony and had an interesting chat with the girl on the floor below, and then I heard you guys saying Doom had created an illusion…"

"Johnny, get to the point!" Ben boomed and test tubes smashed. "Sorry Reed, I'll keep quiet." Reed nodded at his friend then turned to Johnny.

"Well there's a tribe called the Inflamarae, who often visited the pub I went to when in NASA, and they were into magic and spells and all that jazz. Well there was a rumor going round that Doom's step dad was a member of the Inflamarae." Johnny bit into a red apple and smiled.

"Is it possible that Doom could have some magic…" Sue looked at Reed waiting for an answer.

"It is but he wouldn't have a lot of magic in him, although I don't back-up this theory, I mean magic? Come on!" Reed looked at his team mates faces, they were serious. "You all believe this?"

"We saw him being turned into a human statue, To get out of that, he would need more then carving tools, Reed. He must have got himself out using….m…m..mag…magic." Sue spluttered. She hadn't used the word magic since she was 5 years old. "Can you hear that?" Sue exclaimed. The slamming of Ben Grimms door could be heard.

"It's always got something to do with me!" Ben ran to his room and looked at his bed. On the pillow was a note. He saw a hand stretch over his head and take the letter. Ben couldn't open the letter so Reed did it for him.

Reed looked at the letter. "What do you think you're doing in this town you freak! Go to a mountain then you'll bend in with the rock's. You're a freak on nature Thing!" Reed put the letter down. All of the four except Ben looked horrified.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Ben shrugged and lit a cigar. Everyone turned to Sue who had grabbed something from her hair. It was a coin sized metal disc and it was bleeping.


	4. Fear of two Friends1

**Please note- This chapter of the Fearsome Four is only 1 page long unlike the others which are two because its part 1 of two of the 'fear of two friends**' **saga.**

Chapter 4- Fears of two friends

"Sue, put it on the table." Reed said and Sue put it on the wooden table. The metal coin stopped bleeping but was now glowing blue in four points. Everyone leaned closer as four, thin metal legs came out from the blue points. The metal 'spider' began crawling across the desk and towards the lab. Johnny was about to throw a fireball at the spider when Reed stopped him. "No Johnny, I'm curious let's see what it will do." Johnny lowered his hand and watched in awe as the spider (which had climbed up to the metal workspace) began to glow purple and spin. It was spinning so fast that it hovered at Sue's eye level.

It began bleeping, the bleeps getting louder and louder. Sue raised a force field as the now spinning metal spider let out a purple gas. The whole room was filled with the gas and when Reed opened his eyes, he was horrified at what he saw.

His desks, computers and lab equipment were now black instead of silver and the room was very dimly lit. But what horrified him the most was his teammates. Sue, Johnny and Ben's blue costumes had been replaced with grey ones. Johnny's hand was lit with black flame; Sue's face had a lot of make-up on and Bens orange colored rock skin was now spiked and grey. "It can't be! You're robots! You can't be……..The Fearsome Four!" Reed exclaimed, stepping back and knocking over a vase of black orchids.

The Invisible Lady raised an eyebrow at Reed "Do you mind rubberman. My husband Rick gave me those. But then you came here and he went to where you were…."

"I don't know what you're on about Invisible Lady!" Reed interrupted.

"SHUT UP!" The Invisible Lady boomed. "Oh and for god's sake Reed, stop it with the fearsome four stuff. The way I see it, you're going to be here for a long time so you can call me Sal, The Rock- Glen and The Blackened Torch- Sonny." Sal grinned. "Now, although we need you to get my husband back, that doesn't mean we can't touch you…" She looked at Sonny and Glen who grinned evilly and all three moved towards Reed.

Reed looked at a open window and squeezed through and rolled into a ball and bounced down the road away from the Baxter building without looking back. Back at the Baxter building Sal, Sonny and Glen smirked. "I knew that would happen." Glen grinned and pressed a button under one of many black desks. The rug in the middle of the lab flipped over revealing four black motorbikes. One was over sized and Glen was the one who climbed onto it. When Sonny and Sal were on the bikes, they all turned the keys and drove through the window and landed on the road ten floors below. They drove fast in the direction where they saw Reed bouncing.


	5. Fear of two Friends2

Chapter 5- Fear of two Friends 2

"What's the matter Reed?" Glen mocked as he slowly stepped towards Reed who was cornered in an alley. Behind Glen, Sonny had turned on his black flame and Sal was creating a grey force field.

Reed jumped over the three just as Glen went to punch him. He clutched his stomach as Sonny had struck him as he jumped over with a flaming hand. He was knocked back into a car as a grey force field was hurled at him by his enemy. As he went to get up he was punched by The Rock and was sent flying into the air.

Reed braced himself for the fall but was caught by the most unlikely person. Doom. Reed looked up at Doom who now wore a white cloak instead of the green. "Koon! Why do you always our to ruin our fun!" Sonny hissed. Koon. Soony. Sal. Glen. Reed had been in to much of a panic to figure it out. Everything was reversed. Apart from the Baxter building…..so maybe that was the key to get back. Reed silently slipped away as Koon and the Fearsome Four spat insults at each other.

Climbing up the side of the building, he climbed through the smashed window. He searched for a means to get back but something going on outside caught his attention. Koon was fighting off attacks of force fields, flame and tremendous punches. Reed went to call out to the white cloaked man but fell out of the window and fell hard on the floor. He closed his eyes and saw black.

When he opened his eyes he saw Sue staring down at him with a concerned face. "Reed are you feeling okay?" She asked whilst Ben had walked over along with Johnny who was heating some popcorn in his hand.

"I'm fine….well no I'm not, There were the fearsome four and Doom was good and I fell twelve storey to my death." Reed quickly said.

"Reed, you were dreaming. The gas the spider gave of caused hallucinations in our sleep. Although I put up a field it still got to you and Johnny before the field had fully developed and Ben and me still breathed in a little as well."

"What did you visualize?" Reed asked looking at Sue, then Ben and finally Johnny who was now salting his popcorn.

Sue was the first to answer. "I visualized that the public was hunting me down because I destroyed the town using force fields. It was horrible I was sending people flying into the air so that they wouldn't attack me…and all the blood." She lowered her head and Ben put an arm around her.

"I saw myself human and Doom was killing everyone I cared about in front of me knowing I was helpless. But he didn't kill Alicia, he kidnapped her….then I blacked out and woke up here." Ben said with a hoarse voice.

Johnny put an arm around Ben. "Was I one of the people you cared about." He answer wasn't verbal but physical as Ben grabbed Johnny and hugged him tight along with Sue with tears rolling down his cheeks. Gasping for breath Johnny managed to break free. "I imagined I was at the playboy mansion, then it was set alight by me." Johnny said munching away on popcorn as though watching a movie. "Hey, what's that on the window?" He pointed out.

Reed stretched an arm over and peeled the envelope off the window. "It's addressed for you." He told Ben as he passed it to him.

Ben opened the letter and his face looked horrified. "You know that other letter I got? Well it's him again and he's took Alicia. It was Doom sending the letter." He passed the letter to Sue who put it on the bedside cabinet.

"Ben, don't worry my guess is that to know where Doom is we have to go to his roots. The Inflamarae." Reed's head along with Sue and Bens looked at Johnny.

"I'll drive." He said running outside to his Red sports car which had been modified to carry extra weight. Ben was second in and sat with Sue in the back whilst Reed sat in front. Johnny turned the key and drove off. He should know the route to NASA after five years, Shouldn't he?


End file.
